


Filmstrip

by Minunlike



Category: Skullgirls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-07
Updated: 2012-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-04 23:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minunlike/pseuds/Minunlike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peacock watches cartoons, and somehow ends up reflecting on the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Filmstrip

_Life sure is grand, ain’t it?_

That’s what she thought to herself in the morning as she woke up and leapt out of bed. She threw off her PJs, and picked out a little black dress (Though they were all the same, anyway, so what did it matter?). That routine done, she walked out.

And where did she go?

To the TV room, of course. Same as always. She did have some responsibilities to attend to, but those could wait. Those Skullgirls weren’t going anywhere… yet. Besides, today was Saturday, and she knew what that meant.

The 30th anniversary marathon of Annie: Girl of the Stars, her favorite show of all time.

She plopped herself on the couch and grabbed the TV remote. The Doc and his lackeys were out today, so she had the place all to herself… for the most part.

She reclined comfortably, switched on the TV, and as the opening theme started, she craned her head back and made a sharp whistle into the darkness.

“Hey, birdbrain! Get your ass over here, it’s starting! And bring on the popcorn!”

From another room, her feathered comrade emerged, a bowl of popcorn precariously perched on his head.

“Squawk! Coming, Boss!”

In the time it took for the bird to fly over and alight beside her, she was already mesmerized by the show. It looked like they were starting from the very beginning of the series… ah, the memories! She laughed and started cheering as little Annie took on her first Skullgirl.

“Yeah, atta girl! Knock her socks off, Annie!”

She punched the air, inadvertently punching Avery in the process. He, along with the popcorn bowl, were knocked to the ground with a loud clang. She didn’t even seem to notice. She was too busy taking a trip down memory lane.

She remembered when she first saw these episodes. Annie was her absolute hero, even back then.

Ahhh, those were much… simpler times, weren’t they?

…

_She would wake up every Saturday morning, bright and early. Fast as lightning, she would rush downstairs, not even bothering to change out of her nightclothes, and switch on their old analog TV. Looking behind her, she would excitedly call out:_

_“Hurry up, it’s on! It’s gonna start without you!”_

_Then, as she sat herself down on the couch, that familiar, cheery voice would call back to her._

_“Alright, Patty, settle down now. I’ll be out in a minute.”_

_And in a minute, dear old Dad would come down the stairs and sit down right next to her, just as the opening ended, and little Annie was off on her next adventure._

_She would laugh as Annie got herself into one mishap after another, and Dad would tell her all about the shenanigans Annie got into when he was her age. But it was always okay in the end, because no matter what happened, everything would be back to normal by the next episode._

_…It was kind of lonely, though, just her and Dad. Mom didn’t get to join them much, because she was always working. Somebody had to bring in the money, after all! And she didn’t have many friends… Most of those other kids spent their time outside, while she preferred to stay holed up in her house and watch TV all day._

_But there was Marie…_

_Yes, good old Marie would come and visit her a lot. It was weird how they became such fast friends; She was outspoken and easily excitable, while Marie was so reserved and formal, always insisting on calling her “Patricia”, and always such a neat freak, cleaning up after everybody’s messes…_

_But there was one thing they had in common… they both loved little Annie, and all the other heroes of the TV world. They watched them so much, they could quote their favorite lines for just about any situation that called for it (and quite a few that didn’t). They envied them, because they could only dream of such grand adventures._

_And they idolized them, because no matter what kind of crap life threw their way, they always kept right on truckin’._

_Unfortunately, life wasn’t nearly as kind to them as it was to those cartoon stars…_

_…_

_None of them ever saw it coming. They knew the war had been going on for a while now, but they never expected the violence to extend to their tiny rural town._

_It had to be one of the days Mom had off. They’d just finished dinner, and were about to settle in and watch a movie. Marie’d come over too…_

_That’s when it hit them. It hit them like… a ton of bricks, you could say._

_Well, that’s what it was. A deafening roar, and the next thing they knew, their brick house was in shambles around them. Her parents disappeared in the explosion, and by the time the dust settled, all she saw was red._

_For what seemed like hours she laid there, her arms and legs pinned down by the wreckage, calling out for her parents, hoping they’d just stand up and dust themselves off…_

_… Then she saw the silhouette of a man. He dug her out of the wreckage, lifted her over his shoulder, and took her away._

_As he carried her off, she thought to herself, ‘this’ll be like one of those old fairy tales, right? The kind with the nice old men who rescue the little girls from danger and take them in…?’. With that slightly comforting thought in her mind, she allowed herself to drift out of consciousness._

_If only she’d known how wrong she was…_

_He did take her in, that much she got right. But they were not in the least bit nice. She felt like Cinderella, being forced to do various mundane jobs for him and his buddies, and getting zip in return for it._

_She did get to go on a grand adventure. She was taken all across the kingdom, passed off from person to person. But it wasn’t at all what she wanted._

_Sometimes she felt like she was in a cartoon, with all these crazy things happening to her. She must have been the airheaded comic relief character, always bungling something. Except when she screwed up, no one was laughing._

_They were laughing pretty hard when the violence happened, though. They laughed as her arms were torn clean off. They snorted as her teeth were smashed in like broken piano keys. They were practically doubled over as her legs twisted like a pretzel. But she didn’t find it the least bit funny._

_Then one day, she was shipped off to another house… and who should she find there when she arrived?_

_Good old Marie._

_Yes, it was by some stroke of luck that she and Marie had ended up in that same house. She’d never forget the look on that girl’s face when she saw what her best friend had been reduced to. She looked like she was ready to puke! Even though she told so many stories about how she’d seen things like that before! And unluckily for her, she got to see plenty more where that came from. The guys they were working for definitely had a low tolerance for funny business._

_A few nights after her arrival, she’d awakened to see Marie standing over her makeshift cardboard bed._

_That was the first time she ever saw Marie angry._

_She adamantly declared that they were running away that night. She’d already laid out a plan and everything. It was so unlike Marie… to rebel like that. But she insisted it would make them free, and they’d be happy again._

_But that wasn’t exactly how it worked._

_She would forever remember that night as the night her eyes bulged right out of their sockets. Somehow, she had a feeling they were never going back in._

_And, well… suffice it to say, she never saw Marie again._

_It was decided at that point that she’d outlived her usefulness. After all, what good was a girl who couldn’t see or use her hands? So they just took her out and dumped her. She could only guess where. Not that it really mattered where, anyway._

_… Then the Doc came along._

_Yes, he scooped her up and promised he’d make her right as rain again. In her position, who was she to argue? Not that she could argue, even if she wanted to._

_So he took her back to his lab. He put her on one of his lab tables, sent her off to sleep, and by the time she woke up, he’d done as he promised. She had arms again. She had teeth again. But most importantly, she had eyes again. Sure, they weren’t exactly where they belonged, but who was complaining?_

_And the real kicker was that he’d given her all sorts of cool powers. She could do more than she could before! She could do more than anybody could! All she had to do was hunt down this thing called a Skullgirl, but other than that, she was home free! She could do whatever she wanted!_

_He even gave her some friends, too! He’d called them ‘weapons’, but she liked them too much to think of them that way. They talked with her all the time, and she even gave each one of them his own name. She didn’t know why the Doc was so surprised about that. They were the best buddies a girl could ask for! Next to Marie, of course…_

_If only Marie could see her now! That the broken little girl she saw before was good as new! Better than new, in fact!_

…

_But that didn’t replace all that she’d lost… That was one thing the Doc couldn’t fix._

_Sure, the Doc was a great guy and all, but sometimes she still wished that one day, by some miracle, her parents might show up, and they could just sit and watch little Annie like old times._

_And Marie would be there, too… smiling that tiny little smile of hers…_

…

“…y…”

“M…ea…ck…”

“…”

“Miss Peacock!”

A shrill squawk snapped her out of her reverie. Sufficiently steamed, she grabbed the bird by the neck and throttled him.

“What the hell’s with all the racket, huh?”

He was quite unable to give an answer in his current situation. After she let him go, he sputtered out an answer.

“T-The marathon’s… over, B-Boss…”

Her gaze shifted to the TV, and she saw that he was right. Some dumb sitcom was on the screen now.

Just how long had she been daydreaming, anyway?

…

“Uh… hey, Boss, you okay?”

As she switched off the TV, she turned to face the little bird, giving him a puzzled look.

“… What do you mean, ‘am I okay’? I’m just fine and da-“

Then she noticed her reflection in the TV screen. She got a good look at her face, and… huh, fancy that. Tears. Kinda funny how those water works of hers were still functional.

Oh well, it served her right for thinking too much.

She wiped her face before finishing the sentence she’d left hanging.

“-just fine and dandy, you got that?”

The bird seemed satisfied with that, because she didn’t hear any more squawking.

She sat and thought to herself for a while. Then, after a moment, she looked back at him.

“Go round up the rest of the gang. We’re going on a little night out.”

He was more than happy to oblige. She stood, whistling to herself, and started to make her own preparations.

_What was the point of thinking about anyone else? They were all too… fragile. They could be gone in a flash._

She lit up a cigar, put on her best hat, and strolled out the door. Just outside, the whole gang was waiting for her.

“Ready, guys?” she called.

“Ready, Boss!” came the chorused reply.

She smiled, and pulled out a gun.

_She didn’t need to rely on anyone anymore. She was the star of her own show now._

**“Time to paint the town red!”**


End file.
